![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Moudjendra (lentils and rice)
Apr. 15th, 2011 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
steorraAs I mentioned in my first post in this community, one of my major struggles with cooking is coordinating cooking and shopping. This is a recipe I find useful because all its ingredients don't go bad quickly, and therefore are easy to keep in stock, so I can make it even if I haven't planned ahead of time and gone shopping. Other things I find useful about it:
-It's vegan, and so is useful for the times when I need vegan recipes.
-It makes a large pot of food, so there are lots of leftovers which serve well as reheatable meals.
-It freezes tolerably well in single-serving-sized containers.
-Combined with vegetables on the side, it makes a complete meal.
It does have disadvantages; here are some obvious ones. It takes quite a while from start to finish. (It looks like it ought to take about an hour, but it usually takes me at least an hour and a half, and I prefer to budget two hours.) It requires considerable standing at the stove and stirring the frying onions and garlic.
I don't know if it will be appropriate to anyone else's needs, but here it is:
Moudjendra
(Lentils and Rice from Cyprus; adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian)
Ingredients:
2 c. dry brown/green lentils
1 c. long-grain white rice
1 1/2 t. salt
7 c. water
7 T. olive oil
1 medium to large onion
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
Instructions:
Combine lentils and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 25 minutes. Add rice and salt and stir them in. Bring to a boil again. Turn heat back down and simmer for 25 minutes more. Mix lemon juice in.
While the lentils and rice are cooking[*], cut the onion in half lengthwise and then slice it into thin slices. Slice garlic cloves thinly. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add onions and garlic to hot oil. Stir and fry until onion is medium brown.
Pour onion mixture over lentils-and-rice mixture and stir it all together. Ready to eat!
[*] I still haven't figured out exactly when in the cooking process it works best to start on the onions and garlic. If I start chopping them as soon as I put the lentils on to cook, they're done well before the lentil-rice mixture is ready. If I start chopping them after I add the rice to the lentils, the lentils and rice are done considerably before the onions are sufficiently fried. The latter is preferable to the former, but it would be nice to get them done at almost the same time. The details of timing will of course depend on how fast you chop things.
-It's vegan, and so is useful for the times when I need vegan recipes.
-It makes a large pot of food, so there are lots of leftovers which serve well as reheatable meals.
-It freezes tolerably well in single-serving-sized containers.
-Combined with vegetables on the side, it makes a complete meal.
It does have disadvantages; here are some obvious ones. It takes quite a while from start to finish. (It looks like it ought to take about an hour, but it usually takes me at least an hour and a half, and I prefer to budget two hours.) It requires considerable standing at the stove and stirring the frying onions and garlic.
I don't know if it will be appropriate to anyone else's needs, but here it is:
Moudjendra
(Lentils and Rice from Cyprus; adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian)
Ingredients:
2 c. dry brown/green lentils
1 c. long-grain white rice
1 1/2 t. salt
7 c. water
7 T. olive oil
1 medium to large onion
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
Instructions:
Combine lentils and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 25 minutes. Add rice and salt and stir them in. Bring to a boil again. Turn heat back down and simmer for 25 minutes more. Mix lemon juice in.
While the lentils and rice are cooking[*], cut the onion in half lengthwise and then slice it into thin slices. Slice garlic cloves thinly. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add onions and garlic to hot oil. Stir and fry until onion is medium brown.
Pour onion mixture over lentils-and-rice mixture and stir it all together. Ready to eat!
[*] I still haven't figured out exactly when in the cooking process it works best to start on the onions and garlic. If I start chopping them as soon as I put the lentils on to cook, they're done well before the lentil-rice mixture is ready. If I start chopping them after I add the rice to the lentils, the lentils and rice are done considerably before the onions are sufficiently fried. The latter is preferable to the former, but it would be nice to get them done at almost the same time. The details of timing will of course depend on how fast you chop things.
